Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 17 January 2009
Church Unity Week Celebrations
During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which begins next week, Church of Ireland congregations will share in ecumenical services both in their own churches and in the churches of fellow Christians.
Tomorrow (Sunday) evening in Navan the Bishop of Meath & Kildare will preach in St Anne’s Chapel while on Thursday evening, in St Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast the preacher will be the Bishop of Clogher. On Friday evening at 8pm in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Pobal an Aifrinn and Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise (Irish Guild of the Church) will host an Interdenominational Service of Prayer and Music, in Irish, under the title, ‘That they may become One in your Hand’. The preacher will be the Rev Adrienne Galligan, Rector of Crumlin & Chapelizod.
In the Chapel of the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, as part of the programme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the speaker at the Eucharist on Wednesday will be Mr Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times. The celebrant of the Eucharist will be Mr McGarry’s former colleague, Canon Patrick Comerford, former Foreign Desk Editor of The Irish Times, who is Director of Spiritual Formation at the Institute.
The National Bible Society of Ireland has published Canon Patrick Comerford’s lecture in the Bedell Boyle Lecture series in a new publication: Reflections of the Bible in the Qur’an: a Comparison of Scriptural traditions in Christianity and Islam. This new publication points out that Muslims respect Jews, Christians and Muslims as “People of the Book,” sharing a common scriptural tradition, based on the Torah or first five books of the Bible, the Psalms and the Gospels. The Qur’an includes many Biblical stories, with numerous parallels of the Gospel stories in the Qur’an.
In his new publication, Canon Comerford also explores the place of Jesus in later Islamic traditions, including the hadith, apocalyptic and Arabic literary traditions, and Sufi poetry, and examines both the Muslim view of the Bible and the attitude towards the Bible found in the Qur’an and in Islamic teachings. His lecture in the Milltown Institute was chaired and introduced by the Augustinian Biblical scholar and former President of the National Bible Society of Ireland, the Revd Dr Kieran O’Mahony. In his introduction to this publication, Professor O’Mahony, writes: “In these days of closer social contacts between Muslims and Christians, a sympathetic reading of each other’s scriptures and traditions is all the more needed.” He says the “eirenic presentation of Muslim teaching on Jesus and other biblical figures makes an ideal and highly-informative opening up for the non-Muslim.”
Reflections of the Bible in the Qur’an: a Comparison of Scriptural traditions in Christianity and Islam by Patrick Comerford is available from the National Bible Society of Ireland, 41 Dawson Street, Dublin 2.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, the new series of thought provoking sermons for Hilary term, entitled ‘Thinking Aloud’ will continue at the 10.45 Choral Eucharist. Roisin Ingle, from The Irish Times, will speak on ‘Thinking Aloud about Soul Searching and other Extreme Sports’.
At Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral, the Archbishop of Dublin will preside at the installation of new dignitaries and a new canon.. The Ven Ricky Rountree, Rector of Powerscourt, will be installed as Archdeacon of Glendalough, the Revd Peter Campion, Chaplain of The King’s Hospital, as Precentor and Canon John McCullagh, Rector of Rathdrum. as Treasurer. The Revd Ted Ardis, Rector of Donnybrook. will be installed a s a new canon.